


growth

by Al_D_Baran



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (for the epilogue), 5 Times, Abandonment Issues, Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Delinquent Keith (Voltron), Galaxy Garrison, Grief/Mourning, Loss, M/M, Mentor/Protégé, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Pre-Kerberos Mission, Red Paladin Shiro (Voltron), Sheith Month 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 09:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11689113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Al_D_Baran/pseuds/Al_D_Baran
Summary: Sheith Month 2017, Day 1: "Yes, sir""And when the night comes, he kisses the stars goodbye andwonders why they’ve taken the ground from beneath his feet."





	growth

**Author's Note:**

> Just to make sure: this is not meant to be about broganes or whatever. Or Friendsheith. Nope! This is pre-Sheith.
> 
> Based on a rp me and Yanna have been having for a couple months.
> 
> Sorry I'm late to the party!
> 
> See y'all in a few hours for an hopefully understandable Saint Seiya AU for Day 2.

 

 

 

 

**-04.**

 

 

 

When Iverson calls him to his office so early in the day, Shiro isn’t sure what to expect. Ever since he got the Commander post, his ancient teacher hasn’t spoken to him. It’s recent, the uniform still fresh and crisp from being sewn specifically to his build and he wears it with pride swelling in his chest each time he looks at himself in the mirror.

He walks in the room expecting to have paperwork dumped on him, but instead, Iverson gestures him to a chair. In the other one, sits someone – a cadet in a bright orange uniform, the sleeves stained with what looks like soot and his boots wet, knees a darker shade than they should be.

None of them speak until he’s seated, the boy looking to his hands, fists tight on his lap. Shiro can’t help but look at him, at the long lashes and sharp jaw. He doesn’t look old enough to be here, still boyish in his pout and drawn in shoulders. He looks like a little bird, too small for his own clothes and ready to fly away or attack if one of them says one thing out of line. This is not a robin, Shiro understands, without a doubt. This is an eagle, if a juvenile one, without all its feathers, but with working claws.

“Shirogane, sure you’ve heard of Kogane,” Iverson says, suddenly enough that Shiro stiffens and sits straighter, as according to protocol, like he should with a superior. Kogane ignores that entirely.

“I… it would be hard not to hear of him. This boy crushed all our records.”

Keith Kogane. _Now_ he remembers. The Garrison issued that orphan a special scholarship, much ahead of the time they allow any student in the school, to make sure no other para-military could get their hands on such a gifted pilot. Kogane is very much a kid, his clothes too big, limbs too long and face still innocent and chubby. Shiro can’t help but find him cute, in a way, even with how closed off he is, as if everyone in the room is an enemy.

Keith sends a glare toward him as he praises him, but promptly looks away, pulling himself closer to his own core.

_Ah._

“As you may have heard, Kogane’s got a bit of an attitude problem. Just now, he’s flooded the bathrooms of the third floor. Jammed them all with toilet paper and watched at the bottom of the stairs as it all cascaded down.”

Shiro can’t help a snort that brings him the offended look of disbelief of his superior.

He clears his throat, “Um, yes. So… what should I do for that?”

Give him a pep talk? Students loved him. Maybe that was all that he needed. Someone to give him some advice to push him in the right direction.

“Well, I’ll appoint you as his mentor.”

Oh. Okay.

“Uh… his mentor?” Shiro asks, seeing Keith’s panicked expression in his peripheral vision.

Iverson pays him no mind as he explains further, “Yes. See, these classes are maybe too advanced for him. I think you might need to give him some help.”

“Some help,” Shiro repeats.

“Yes. Guidance, everything.” There’s a sigh. He just doesn’t want to deal with that.

So, it will be Shiro’s problem.

Keith looks flabbergasted as much as Shiro is, but at least, Shiro can keep his composure. The boy stares between them and Iverson looks happy to have delayed the problem student to someone else. Great. So that means Keith acting up will be his fault by association.

Shiro can feel this is going to be the death of him.

But… he can’t hate the kid. Keith is probably just scared, thrown into an unfamiliar environment with older kids who hate him for his natural talents. So, when Iverson dismisses them, Shiro extends a hand to Keith and gives him his most dashing smile.

“Hey, Keith Kogane, uh? Heard a lot about you. I’m Japanese like you. I’m Shirogane Takashi, but you can just call me Shiro.”

Keith stares at him with his mouth hanging a little open as he shakes his hand. Shiro notices he’s leaned down a little – Keith is almost a head and a half shorter than he is, but he is almost six feet and five inches. Keith seems to be only about five feet five. It makes him look even more like a fledgling bird. Tiny, bony, short.

He really is like a little bird.

“I’m, I’m…” Keith looks away, flustered as he clears his throat. “Keith. Just… just Keith.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Keith. I’m sure you’ll do great if you try. You can do it.”

Slowly, Keith looks a little more determined.

“Ye-yes, sir. Li-likewise.”

Surely, one day that little bird will fly from its own wings.

 

 

 

 

**-03.**

 

 

 

He’s asked Keith to meet him in his office so he understand in exactly how much troubles he’s gotten himself in. Their meetings are usually quite casual, but when he sits behind his desk and Keith sits in the uncomfortable chair, shoulders pulled in even when he’s still glaring.

“I can’t even _begin_ to start telling you how disappointed I am in you,” Shiro says, making Keith’s gaze flicker down.

It’s been a couple month since he meets Keith almost every day. Sometimes, it’s just to give him a little more time in the simulator when he attends all his classes. Keith is already an ace pilot and Shiro could gather some information about his past. His foster brother was heavily disabled and his parents bought him a similar set up for his computer, seeing that he couldn’t go out much.

Keith spoke so fondly of Billy that he almost sounded like an older brother. Talked about the bullies he beat up… but the boy is ten years his senior. There’s so much good in Keith that Shiro can’t help but wonder why he wastes his time doing petty things like making shivs out of his bedframe. And he keeps doing it.

And when he pushed about it, Keith didn’t want to speak. When he pushed about why he never spoke of his foster family, the boy had shut off like a clam.

Maybe it’s to let out some steam that Keith lit a few trashcans on fire on his dorm floor. His sleeves are covered with soot still. Shiro didn’t put him to be an arsonist. He tries to calm down before he speaks more.

“This was _actually_ dangerous, Keith. You could have burned the whole building down.”

“But if didn’t happen,” the boy says sourly, balling up in the armchair.

“What if it did? You could have died. I could have died. Your classmates could have died.”

Keith frowns but still tries, “Didn’t happen. The alarm— “

“It’s not about that. It’s because of your disregard to everyone else’s safety. Why do you need to do that – to do _all_ that?”

The first time he found Keith making shivs, Shiro didn’t say much. He smuggled them out of the Garrison dorms to just throw them away in the deserts. When he found Keith tagging walls in the showers, Shiro gave him something to wash and conveniently forgot to report it to Iverson. Not reporting to Iverson was, well, impossible when Keith had broken his office window with his chair. For someone so small, he’s surprisingly strong. It was even harder to get Iverson to be lenient again when he found out Keith was participating in illegal desert races with _his_ hoverbike – Keith’s skills only saved him on that one. Lighting a few trashcans on fire and causing an evacuation of the school and dorms just isn’t something Shiro can brush off.

And Iverson won’t be lenient again.

There must be a reason why. Keith is always so closed off with him, draws back in after he’s spoken and was honest. Maybe he’s doing something wrong, Shiro thinks. Maybe he’s not firm enough. Maybe…

“You’re just gonna leave anyway,” Keith says, throat tight, so quietly Shiro would have asked him to repeat had he been not stunned long enough to understand the words fully. “Just… just speeding things up.”

“What?” he asks, more worried and, frankly, _heartbroken_ than angry. Keith looks so small, even more when he tries to take as little space as he can.

“It’s what everybody does. Everyone gets tired of me eventually. My mom abandoned me, all the fosters, even the last ones. They said they’d adopt me but they just… they just… didn’t let me in one day.”

Shiro feels his heart ache even more when Keith adds, eyes shiny with tears, “Are you going to assign me to someone else now?”

Shiro moves to the other side and pulls him close, some kind of brotherly instinct taking over as he shakes his head, kneeling next to the chair as Keith eventually relaxes. It’s almost natural when Keith leans in, letting out a little sob in the crook of his shoulder. It feels like a dam’s opened and the poor thing can’t stop now, letting out little hiccups against him.

“I’m not gonna do that, Keith. You’re a handful but I don’t hate you. You’re my responsibility, alright? I want you to be safe and keep you in this school. I can’t always bail you out of troubles, alright? And… that was dangerous. You could have hurt yourself.”

“I’m sorry,” Keith squeaks, throat tight as he sniffles, clinging to him. Shiro doesn’t even care about having to go to a dry cleaner to get the soot off his back now.

“It’s okay… if there’s something wrong, you can talk to me, alright? I’m here for you,” Shiro assures, ruffling Keith’s hair with a fond smile.

“Mmhmmh. Yes, sir. I will now.”

“You’re a good kid, Keith,” Shiro murmurs, and Keith smiles. “I’ll never abandon you, alright?”

And he truly believes that.

 

 

 

**-02.**

 

 

 

“Are… you sure about that?” Matt asks, looking at Kogane as the boy follows Shiro close, looking up to him like a little puppy. He’s got the tiniest bag he’s seen and Shiro’s bought him more camping supplies than he should have, even some clothes to go out, but Shiro seems happier than ever.

“What? About bringing him? He’s a smart kid. Told me he’s experienced in survival things. Don’t worry about it.”

“Maybe _not_ in a forest? More like the desert? Like in Nevada, where the Garrison is?”

Shiro can’t answer to that – he just shrugs and rolls his eyes.

Ah. If only he could _not_ worry. Kogane’s got a reputation and Matt is expecting him to dash off whenever he’ll have the chance or burn their tents down. Sure, Shiro told him that it was more complicated than that without saying too much and that he wasn’t _just_ a delinquent but Matt can’t help but be worried. He’ll sleep with his tablet inside his sleeping bag just to make sure nothing will happen to it.

If Shiro wanted to make their hiking trip a charity then so be it. He certainly hoped Shiro wouldn’t keep bringing sad orphans with big, teary eyes each time they were leaving. He wanted to spend some quality time with his best friend in peace.

The ride to the mountains was spent in silence, with Keith staring outside the car window, mouth hanging open as they went through Oregon scenery. Maybe he’s never been out of the desert. But when they set camp, the kid is already walking around, coming back when Shiro calls him, makes sure he’s not going to far away. Matt teases him about being so much like a big brother but his friend ignores him.

For now, Kogane’s pretty silent. Matt just hopes he’s not going to start speaking about kid stuff. Like prom. Or whatever kids talk about these days. Pokémon? Is that still a thing? Matt wouldn’t mind talking about that. But – Keith doesn’t even have a cellphone. Honestly, if someone would act like Shiro did toward him, Matt would feel like he was acting out of pity.

But Shiro’s doing all that out of the goodness of his heart.

And he’d ben lying if he said it wasn’t heartwarming to see Shiro like a kid so much, to be so invested in his well-being. Keith seems to be enamored with him and Matt can’t blame him for the little crush he has on Shiro. He’s handsome and charming, has an excellent job and he’s yet to meet anyone as nice as Shiro is to just about everyone. Shiro snaps a picture of them on his cellphone and Keith looks more than smitten when Shiro changes it to his profile picture.

And of course, Shiro is entirely oblivious to that. Matt can’t help a snicker.

And to feel a little jealous at how much of Shiro’s attention is focused on his little protégé.

“Oh? So, you lived in the forest?”

“Well, there was one near the orphanage. I’d sneak out to go there,” Keith explains, looking like his heart might burst right out of his chest. “I um… sneaked out once and stayed there for two weeks. It went… pretty well. A deer tried to attack me but… I climbed a tree.”

Matt rolls his eyes but Shiro gasps at that.

“Don’t sneak out of the Garrison,” he says right away, firm and strict, even when it’s obvious he’s trying to hide his awe. It doesn’t last too long, “But two weeks? That’s impressive, Keith. You’re really good at this survival thing, uh?”

Keith’s cheeks take a little pink tint. How cute. He loves the compliment so much he can’t help but smile, unable to will his lips to go down and stop letting out a little laugh. Shiro doesn’t seem to notice his attention is doing all sorts of things to his student.

Matt thinks it’s adorable, rea—

“Holy _shit_!”

Shiro stands up so quickly he could have flown right away, stepping away from whatever’s scared him. Matt gets up too, staring as Keith calmly picks a snake up, letting out a little laugh as the unbothered creature starts wrapping around his arm. When he looks at Shiro’s face, he understands with a chuckle.

“Oh, so you’re scared of snakes, Shiro?” Keith mocks with a little grin, looking as the reptile smells the air, making Shiro whine in fear.

“I… I might be, yes.” Matt snorts. Shiro glares at him. He’s paler than a ghost, blood having left his face entirely.

Keith makes little noises at the grass-snake in his hands. Snakes are unsettling and it’s odd to see him so chummy with the slimy creature… Matt still isn’t sure what to think of that kid but he approaches, surprised to see it be so calm in the boy’s hands. Maybe it’s because Kogane is so calm himself…

Shiro whimpers, staying a little away as he gets up.

Keith, oblivious to Shiro’s phobia, approaches him with a wide smile, “Do you want to touch it? It’s not venomous.”

“Oh my god—Keith, no. Put it down.” Shiro’s voice is shaky as he begs, making Keith smirk.

Oh.

That kid knows what he’s doing. He’s teasing Shiro – he even stays at a reassuring distance but Shiro is still terrified. Matt can’t help but laugh as he watches.

“Why? It’s not dangerous. It’s inoffensive. It’s just a grass snake.”

“Keith.” Shiro tries to sound firm, but his voice breaks a little. “Please. Put it away. I know… you think it’s cute or whatever but… I really don’t like snakes. At all.”

Keith smiles at that, “Yes, sir.”

Shiro understands then he’s been played with and watches Keith walk away, crooning still to his new friend.

“The little shit,” he just whispers to Matt, slumping down before their tent, looking exhausted even when he looks so terribly fond of his protégé.

Maybe spending a weekend with Kogane wouldn’t be so awful after all.

 

 

 

**-01.**

 

 

 

“This is the third time this week,” Iverson grunts, staring at him with furious eyes.

And Keith can’t even care. He’s been empty for the last few weeks and he doesn’t know what to do to fill up the hole. He’s made shivs out of his bedframe until it broke. And he buried them behind school during night. Iverson caught him and let it go. Said something about how much Shiro believed in him.

But Shiro’s gone. He’s left just like Keith knew he would.

He’s clogged the sinks of most bathrooms and watched the water flow again. He isn’t sure why he did that. Petty crimes gave him something to do.

He’s stolen the computer of a teacher to smash it to pieces.

The teacher was a friend of Shiro, who, once again, reminded him of his potential. That Shiro always spoke so fondly of him. That he shouldn’t start all this again because it would have been ruining that, that he shouldn’t do this. What would Shiro have thought of him?

It doesn’t fucking matter because Shiro’s fucking gone.

His grades are freefalling now. No teacher wants to help him because he’s snappy, has an attitude problem. He feels alone in the world again.

And just before, he’s lit trashcans on fire again. He doesn’t know why he does all that it just… he wants something. He wants something to fill the hole, to calm the ache. So, he doesn’t have to think about it anymore.

“Destroying property can be excused if you’re grieving, sometimes,” Iverson said with a long side, rubbing the bridge of his nose, signing a paper and handing it to him. “But you can’t fight other students and expect us to do nothing.”

Keith keeps his eyes down.

He can’t care.

“Shirogane saw something in you and he was right. You’re promising and you waste it all.”

He’s reacted badly to them trying to assign another mentor to him, to keep him in check. Keith remembers Shiro’s warm smiles, his embraces, his unfaltering belief that he was someone who could do great, that he’d be great, that they’d fly in space together, someday.

“I wonder if he was right,” Iverson grunts, sighing as he hands him over a paper.

Keith picks it up, reads the big, red word on top.

_Expelled._

“It’s all I had left,” Keith says, voice weak. He hasn’t spoken in days.

He’ll never go to space. He’ll never do anything good. He’s failed Shiro, his mentor, the one he wanted to make proud, the only one who had ever believed he could do anything.

“I’m sorry, my boy. Pick up your things. Maybe we’ll let you come back when you’re a little older. It was a mistake to just accept a kid here.”

A mistake. Keith can’t help but laugh.

Yeah. That’s what everyone’s always thought of him. How fitting, that it would be the way his dream ends.

“Be out by noon tomorrow. We’ll call social services to see if your last foster home can take you again.”

“Yes, sir.”

Keith leaves immediately. When he came here, he only had the clothes on his back and another set, that he would wash daily wherever he could. Much like the door of his last home, the Garrison’s doors close behind him to never open again. He calls the Jeffersons to fall on a recorded message. He’s not sure what he expected. He doesn’t want to go back there. The unknown calls to him and he steals Shiro’s hoverbike as one last snub to the Garrison.

Not so much stealing when he has the keys on him. Shiro gave them to him with the promise that he’d take care of it and clean it. He could ride it if his notes were high enough.

Keith decides, as he sets out in the desert to never look back, that it’s his now.

The one thing he has is the clothes on his back, a small bag, a knife.

He used to have the stars, but they’ve taken him now.

And when the night comes, he kisses them goodbye and wonders why they’ve taken the ground from beneath his feet.

 

 

 

**00.**

 

 

 

The Universe is vast and ever expanding. Shiro loves to watch it, empty and promising from the deck, in the dim light of the night.

“What are you doing up so late at night?” Keith calls from the door.

Shiro turns around. Sometimes, it’s hard to still find the boy he used to teach to under all these years of war. The eyepatch is ever a reminder that he needs to be stronger, that Keith is not anymore the child he used to hug as he cried, doubting every capacities he had, doubting anyone would ever stay with him.

“Just watching the stars, babe. Care to join me?”

It’s been years and Shiro’s kept his promise.

He’s still there, still mostly in one piece. And never stopped believing in Keith’s capacities.

Black suits him best, he thinks, as Keith gets close, wrapping an arm around his waist, pressing his nose to his shoulder.

“We need to go to bed after that,” Keith says, firmly. “It’s a big day tomorrow.”

A big day. Shiro watches the rings to their fingers, touching now that their fingers are joined. Days are always big now that they are spreading peace rather than freedom, making amends and rebuilding. It’ll be a ceremony to ally with another planet. Shiro feels Red purr in his mind, as if she agrees. They’re both so proud of Keith.

The little bird he’s found, clad in cloudy wings is now an eagle, mature and wise, dangerous and majestic. And Shiro loves nothing more but to see him grow still, to watch him be what the Universe and him need the most.

“Yes, sir.”

And for these few moments, it feels like the stars are all theirs.

 

 

 

“ _If you fall, if you fly_

_It's so hard when you're trying to get back your heart_

_Never lasts, it's broken but it's wise_

_And one day you will rise_

_And you'll learn to dry those eyes_

_Cause you see what it's like_

_To struggle in this life (to struggle in this life)_

_[…]_

_I'll be here for you (to struggle in this life)_

_Any day you want me to, I'll be here for you_

_Love will see us through_

_Wherever you are, whatever you do, I'll be here_ ”

— _I’ll Be Here_ , Priscilla Ahn

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are better than kudos.
> 
> I haven't written anything in three fucking months, how is everyone.


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